Sponsor says bill will force CPUC to post searchable utility advice letters and require utilities to report public loans

AB 17 15, presented to the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications, would create a public, searchable CPUC database of utility advice letters, associated protest letters and CPUC resolutions dating back to 2020 and require utilities to report state and federal grants, loans and bonds when they apply for ratepayer funding.

Dr. Adria Tennant, director of race equity and legislative policy at the Utility Reform Network, described the bill as a two-part transparency measure intended to prevent ‘‘double dipping’’ — that is, the same project being funded through public loans or grants and also through higher rates. She cited a reported $15,000,000,000 Department of Energy loan to PG&E as illustrative of the growing use of alternative financing and the difficulty for outsiders to track whether savings from that financing are reflected in rate proceedings.

The bill would also require utilities to quantify anticipated cost reductions from public funding and show how those savings are incorporated into CPUC proceedings where utilities seek ratepayer dollars. Supporters told the committee that current advice-letter records are difficult to navigate and that advocates and consumers lack an effective mechanism to follow the paper trail between an advice letter and its eventual outcome.

Committee members pressed the bill’s sponsor on enforcement and accounting details. Senator Richardson asked what penalties the CPUC could impose for noncompliance; the sponsor said the CPUC would set penalty amounts through its rulemaking and enforcement process. Members also questioned how the ‘‘financial benefits’’ of public loans or grants would be defined and timed — whether savings must be passed on immediately to customers or tracked in proceedings so the commission can reduce future rate requests. The sponsor and witnesses said the intent is to have the CPUC quantify savings and reflect them when authorizing rates, not to require direct cash refunds to individual customers.

Scott Wedge, representing California Coalition Utility Employees, told the committee he would withdraw opposition in light of committee amendments. PG&E representatives described existing reporting processes and said some reporting already occurs at the CPUC, though they offered no formal position on the bill as introduced.

The committee adopted agreed amendments on the record (including removal of the word “promptly” in certain delivery requirements) and moved the measure to the Appropriations Committee as a do-pass, amended motion.

The committee did not adopt firm numeric definitions for penalties or an explicit one-to-one dollar-credit mechanism; sponsors said those implementation details would be determined by the CPUC in subsequent proceedings.